The Navy, television, the audiovisual industry and the family are the aspects that have marked the life of Darío Ordoñez, manager of the Cosmos Sistemas Integrados Group, CSI, of Colombia.
By: Richard Santa
Although his professional life began dedicated to engineering and later to television, the latter being what his company was initially dedicated to, the opportunities and needs of that time were leading Darío Ordoñez to become what he is today, one of the main leaders of the audiovisual industry, in the segment of control centers and conference rooms.
This Bogota says that after his time in the Navy in 1956, he specialized in the design of industrial machines and remote controls, at that time analogous systems, in Germany. Upon returning, he directed several projects that meant an innovation from engineering to the time, very focused on the construction and automotive sectors.
After several attempts at a new job in the area of engineering, 1977 he joined the most important advertising company at the time, Leo Burnett, in the radio and television department, teamed up with people who were and are recognized in Colombia, such as Otto Greiffestein, Manuel Busquet, Leonor Reyes, Santiago García and Salvo Basile, among others.
Later, due to his previous experience and friendship with television production companies and advertising companies, he had the opportunity to direct and coordinate the Inravisión Studios in 1980, when by government law television in Colombia could only be produced and transmitted by the Institute.
Creating a company
After leaving Inravisión, in 1983 he founded his own company, called Cosmos TV, dedicated to the production of television and commercials. In the late '80s, a former Navy colleague called him requesting the installation of a control room for a unit in the Atlantic. To achieve this, he spent several days in the Disney parks in Orlando observing how best to integrate the audiovisual systems available at that time.
Remember that on the day of the delivery the commanders of the Navy, the Army and the Police were invited. In the following days, he began to receive calls from the different forces requesting quotes from control rooms. From that moment his company changed focus, so much so that in 1990 they reformed the name of the company name to Cosmos Sistemas Integrados, CSI Ltda.
"Since I founded my company I have no idea what time I arrive or what time I leave. I have dawned many times tying a night with dawn and there is neither the beginning of the week nor the end of a month, there are no scheduled vacations and I remember several December 24 or 31 running to get to the family reunion before midnight, "says Dario Ordoñez.
With pride, our Professional of the Month tells that they are the company that more control centers with their interactive meeting rooms and their computer centers (Data-Center) has installed from Mexico to Chile, as a single company. There are 86 facilities that cover areas such as: Military Forces, oil, energy, gas, air and land transport, education, security, government, industry. among others.
"The Control Centers centralize like no other facility, the most modern equipment in the audiovisual industry. There are 27 satellite companies that plan, design, build, put into operation, make technology transfer and constant maintenance. Our customers are aware that with our installed technology they can make sound decisions in the shortest possible time, ensuring the success of their operations," he adds.
Among the list of companies for which he has worked, are the Panama Canal, Medellín Metro, Transmilenio, five control centers in the Pacific Rubiales oil fields, in Oxy, the Virtual 3D Exploration Room in Ecopetrol In addition, it has operations today in Ecuador, Panama and Colombia.
Day-to-day challenges
For Darío Ordoñez, surprise customers with the information of the latest technology not yet launched on the market and with new products designed and produced by his company based on the needs and concerns emanating from the "How important it was that..." or "What possibility we would have of..." for the benefit of its operations in the audiovisual field, are the main challenges of its daily work.
His team is made up of very young people who have the present and the living future in their hands. Three teams work in coordination, as well: Engineering, composed of mechatronic, electronic and electrical engineers. Design and Architecture, composed of designers, architects and civil engineers. Administration, with a Financial Management, Administrative Management, Commercial Management, HSEQ specialists. All are coordinated by the Projects Department.
"In February 2014 we will inaugurate our Research and Development Center, a building that is already being built under our designs based on experiences of several years and trips to several countries of the world," he highlights.
Prosperous region
When asking Darío Ordoñez about the future of audiovisual industry in Colombia and Latin America, he assures that the great gain of Latin American countries is that we are heirs of the great technology of the other countries of the world, so companies that are trained to know and install this equipment, still surprising, will take their customers to the first places in the industry in their country, with the profit of growing, often without competition.
"At the Latin American level, the barrier is in customers who, due to our idiosyncrasies, still want to continue working without technology due to the conformism of their "comfortable" manual productions and are still convinced that the field of automation, supervision and control is an unnecessary expense, but we already feel that the new generations are coming that will revolutionize the industry and there we will grow at unsuspected steps, "he says.
On the evolution that the audio and video industry has had in Colombia in the years he has been working in it, he comments that in some cases they are ahead of the sister countries, excluding Mexico and Brazil. In others it is still in the 80s, "but this is not all bad, as it is our opportunity to continue being entrepreneurial and successful in the coming years. Colombia and America is a land of opportunity as long as we think the future is today."
A proud father
One of the aspects that makes Darío Ordoñez most proud is his family, to the point that even his tone of voice changes when he talks about them. "My family is made up of my wife and five very successful little people."
De Maria Claudia, his wife, he says is the most important support of his life. In addition, there are his four children, two women and two men, three of whom live outside the country in the United States and Ecuador and of whom he does not spare praise to highlight the professional life of each one.
Among his hobbies are travel, whether for work or tourism. Also motorsports. "I ran several years and was national motorsport champion in the category up to 1,500 c.c. (1968), supported by the Skoda brand. At that time we ran through the streets of the cities: Medellín, Cali, Ibagué, Manizales and others. In addition, three times National Champion in motorcycling, one in the Cross modality in which we ran in the mountains, and two in speed driving a Yamaha Racer of 250 c.c.".
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